Surely a lot of great ideas and inspiring stories start with cups of coffee.

The  DA-PRDP Mindanao and ACDI/VOCA- PhilCAFE converged to complement their programs to sustain interventions for Mindanao coffee industry .

In a brief but productive exploratory meeting held December 2  in Davao City, areas for complementation were  identified to  enhance coffee production and enterprise in Mindanao, the country’s leading coffee producer.

It also stirred new ideas and projects where both the government and private institutions can collaborate such as coffee quality advocacy,  enhanced marketing systems, development of learning centers,  knowledge sharing, and stakeholders’ convergence.

ACDI/VOCA-PhilCAFE Chief of Party TJ Ryan said our coffee industry is economically favorable with many interesting opportunities and value adding for bigger market.

“Philippines has excellent export market opportunity. In fact, a lot of Filipino overseas workers want to have Philippine Coffee and we have to address that market,” COP Ryan said. “There is always commercial coffee, but the premium and specialty market have a real strong economic opportunities.”

For the past years, DA-PRDP has been taking initiatives to create convergence intended to support its existing champion commodities such as coffee. In fact, it has been a very ideal setup with all the coffee stakeholders working together to address the gaps in the value chain.

To date, series of trainings were provided by the Project in partnership with ACDI/VOCA, LGUs, state universities like Sultan Kudarat State University, and Nestle Philippines. Aside from training farmers to become trainers, DA-PRDP also funded the development of coffee profile.

One of the bigger projects that coffee stakeholders envision is the establishment of integrated coffee hub in the Province of Sultan Kudarat. This would serve as a venue for all coffee activities, facilities, business, trade and even a learning center which would create an environment where knowledge sharing could prosper.

PSO Mindanao Deputy Project Director Noel T. Provido also discussed possible collaboration with ACDI/VOCA-PhilCAFE where they can help in bringing in the input suppliers, which is one of the gaps identified in the value chain.

“To produce quality coffee, producers need to have access to appropriate equipment. This means involving the  equipment fabricators and suppliers in the procurement process. We also want to adopt the developed  marketing system with our completed, ongoing, and pipelined subprojects to make coffee enterprise more sustainable ,” said Provido.

The DA-PRDP and ACDI/VOCA-PhilCAFE are up for a good start in its shared vision to raise the Mindanao cup.